Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are essential cofactors that enable proteins to transport electrons, sense signals, or catalyze chemical reactions. The maturation of dozens of Fe-S proteins in various compartments of every eukaryotic cell is driven by several assembly pathways. The ubiquitous cytosolic Fe-S cluster assembly (CIA) pathway, typically composed of eight highly conserved proteins, depends on mitochondrial Fe-S cluster assembly (ISC) machinery. Giardia intestinalis contains one of the smallest eukaryotic genomes and the mitosome, an extremely reduced mitochondrion. Because the only pathway known to be retained within this organelle is the synthesis of Fe-S clusters mediated by ISC machinery, a likely function of the mitosome is to cooperate with the CIA pathway. We investigated the cellular localization of CIA components in G. intestinalis and the origin and distribution of CIA-related components and Tah18-like proteins in other Metamonada. We show that orthologs of Tah18 and Dre2 are missing in these eukaryotes. In Giardia, all CIA components are exclusively cytosolic, with the important exception of Cia2 and two Nbp35 paralogs, which are present in the mitosomes. We propose that the dual localization of Cia2 and Nbp35 proteins in Giardia might represent a novel connection between the ISC and the CIA pathways.

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Toronto ON M5G 1Z8 Canada

Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Dalhousie University Halifax NS B3H 4R2 Canada

Department of Parasitology Charles University Prague Vestec 252 42 Czech Republic

Faculty of Sciences University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Budweis 37005 Czech Republic

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre České Budějovice Budweis 37005 Czech Republic

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